A quintessential Vietnamese home cooking staple! These ribs are sweet, savory and delicious.
Growing up, caramelized pork spare ribs were a regular fixture on weekday dinner rotation because they were inexpensive, low-effort, and really tasty!
What is Suon Kho?
In a lot of Vietnamese home cooking, you’ll find a common preparation method called “kho,” which is directly translated to “braise.” You’ll find this application in many dishes like Braised Pork Belly and Eggs (Thit Kho Trung), or Ginger Braised Chicken (Ga Kho Gung). The commonality between the dishes starts off with the “nước màu.” Which gives these dishes their signature caramelized color and flavor.
I’ve tested several different ways to make nuoc mau, including adding water, oil, and coconut soda, but the easiest and most foolproof way is just to heat sugar on medium-low until it has turned a dark amber color. Other methods tend to make the sugar crystalize or burn too quickly. The secret here is just being patient with the sugar and letting it do its thing.
Make it a complete meal
Pair it with one of my favorite soups like Canh Rau Day (Egyptian Spinach Soup) or Canh Bi (Wintermelon Soup)!
Caramelized Pork Spareribs – Sườn Kho
2-4
servings10
minutes30
minutesIngredients
2 lbs pork spareribs
- Marinade:
1 tbsp minced shallots
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 thai chili
1 tbsp chicken bouillon
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
- Caramel (Nước Màu):
3 tbsp sugar
- Sauce:
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 can Coco Rico
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
- Garnishes:
Green onions
Thai chili
Directions
- Cut spareribs between the bones, parboil then rinse with cold water to remove the porky odor
- Marinate cleaned pork with shallots, garlic, thai chili, chicken bouillon, sugar, fish sauce, and pepper. Let that chill out in the fridge for at least half an hour, but the longer the better
- For the nước màu, we’ll add sugar to a clean pot, cook on medium-low, constantly stirring until it turns a dark amber color. Make sure you don’t burn it, otherwise it’ll taste acrid
- Add the pork spareribs and let it brown for a couple minutes. Then we’ll add dark soy sauce, a whole can of Coco Rico, salt and pepper to taste. Bring up to a boil, let that simmer covered for 1-1.5 hours or until tender. Remove the lid, crank up the heat to medium-high and let the sauce reduce and caramelize
- Garnish with green onions and Thai chili
Did you make this recipe?
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This looks absolutely delicious and I have all the ingredients but I can’t find the actual video of you making this, is there one?
How do I explain to the butcher the length I need when asking him to cut through the bones for me?
I LOVE all your recipes, thank you!!
Hey Sian, Thanks for the comment! The spareribs that I pick up are usually cut to size in a long strip, and I only have to cut in between the bones to separate them. You can find the video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CzIDaegR3BM/
I made these and they came out amazing. First thing first, I did not have Coco Rico, but a Google search stated to use coconut water so that is what I did. I used a 11.5 oz can of it and it only covered half way up the ribs, so I placed water in the can and sloshed it around and almost covered the ribs.
I started getting nervous bc my ribs simmered for 45 mins and they did NOT look like Pudge (or Feed) ribs. Trust the process. I took the lid off and reduced the liquid for like 20 mins and it turned into glaze.
Amazing, 10/10 ribs. Will do again. As I type this I am making our boys caramelized pork belly.
Thanks for the comment, and I’m glad it still turned out well! In my pot, I only need about half a can to mostly cover the ribs, so that would def reduce the time it takes for the sauce to turn into a glaze. Excited for you to try out some of my other recipes!